One of the easiest and most cost effective ways to improve your home is to give it a fresh coat of paint. Painting can liven up dull rooms, change the attitude of you home of give it an altogether fresh look. To a novice this can appear to be an intimidating task, but don’t despair, there is less to it than meets the eye. Wall preparation, paint selection, and equipment selection are the basic foundation to any successful painting project.

Paint selection

There are many brands and styles of paint to choose from. Most modern interior paint is Latex and water based for easy clean up. When selecting your paint consider the room it’s going in, semi-gloss and satin work better in kid’s rooms, bathrooms, and areas where wash ability is desired. Many ceiling paints are semi-gloss also. Eggshell finish and satin finish paints are ideal for walls giving a clean warm look to rooms while hiding more imperfections in the walls behind than higher gloss paints. One important thing to remember is that when selecting paint, you get what you pay for; most times I have found the lower price paints often require more coats than the more expensive brands thus making the cost about the same. By practice you will discover which brands you like the best.

Equipment selection

When choosing your painting supplies consider your project and get the right tools. Many options are available for applying paint such as rollers, sprayers, and many different faux finish products. For the average home project the roller is the most common.

u Rollers: Smooth surfaces will use a short nap roller ( 1/4” or 3/8”) as the surface get rougher such as “popcorn” ceiling texture or stucco wall coats, you will need a heavier nap roller to achieve good coverage in all the rough low spots (up to 1” thick)

u Paint tray: Get a try that matches the roller you have chosen. The most common size is a nine inch wide roller tray. Trays come in plastic and metal and range in price, if you plan on reusing your tray, chose a tray that has a little better quality and durability.

u Brushes: Many brushes are available for your needs; you will have to determine which one will work for you. Make sure to read the package and get a brush for the type of paint you are working with.

u Accessories: Trim rollers, extension poles, specialty brushes, rags for cleanup of drips, and a myriad of other products are available. You will have to decide on which ones you will need for your specific project.

Wall and room preparation

Making the paint stick and cover the walls but not the floor or furniture is important. Start by taping off all trim, windows, fixtures that might get paint on them that are not supposed to be painted. Many things like light and outlet covers, registers, and light fixtures can be loosened or removed so you can paint underneath. Fill nail holes and dents/small holes with a quick drying spackle or filler, let this dry completely or when you sand it you could smear the wet filler and have to start over. cover all the furniture and flooring with a drop cloth or plastic sheets, this will keep the paint and dust off the things that are not getting painted Sand the areas with a 80 or 100 grit sanding sheet (you can use the grit you desire, a higher number will be a finer sand which will give you a smoother surface). I usually remove the dust from the walls before I paint with a very lightly wetted cloth. It is a good idea to use a primer on any water spots or stains on the walls and let it dry before you paint.